Clerk says voter turnout down slightly

ARENAC COUNTY — The Arenac County Clerk’s Office has tallied all of the numbers from the 2010 general election.

Arenac County Clerk Ricky Rockwell said that 5,572 out of 12,099 voters in Arenac County voted.

“That’s about 46 percent,” he said.

Rockwell said that the township with the most participation was Whitney Township, where 54.97 percent of registered voters participated. He added that turnout in the townships of Arenac, 53.6 percent; Moffatt, 52.69 percent; and Sims, 52.4 percent; were near that of Whitney.

Clayton Township was the township with the lowest voter turnout, with 37.85 percent of registered voters coming out to vote. The city of Standish tallied 39.98 percent of registered voters.

After votes were tallied one write-in candidate, Jennifer Mitchell, was elected to a seat on the Arenac Eastern School Board, earning 25 write-in votes.

Rockwell said that the decline in the number of voters from the last two elections in 2008 and 2006 may be the result of a number of different issues. He said that because 2008 was a presidential election, numbers from that year would be higher.

“This year there were no big local races,” he said. “For example, four of the five county commissioners seats were uncontested. In 2006, we had a lot of local issues and more local races.”

Rockwell said voting numbers are down around 300 participating voters from four years ago.

“I think that when (Standish Maximum Correctional Facility) closed we lost a lot of people,” he said.